Foreword by Audrey Hepburn
GARDENS OF THE
WORLD: The Art & Practice of
Gardening
(Written in the summer of
1990)
"We all have within us a
need to create beauty. And we all can in a garden, however
small. It is this need which has written the history of
gardens. By looking at our world through its gardens today,
we reaffirm the simple human capacity to create beauty on
this earth.
We are most fortunate to have a truly fine group of writers
and photographers dedicate their talents and expertise to
Gardens of the World. Each garden included has been
carefully selected to illustrate a particular aesthetic,
practice or concept.
After years of challenge and reward in my own garden, I
greatly looked forward to spending time in some of the
world’s most beautiful gardens.
I never imagined they would reveal the diverse range of
expression they did.
The garden of old roses at
Mottisfont Abbey contrasts delightfully with the orderly
abundance of layout of the French rose gardens, yet each
garden helps us know a new dimension of this most revered
of flowers. The Japanese stroll garden at Shinshin-an in
Kyoto challenges our sense of detail and nuance in the
natural world. The Italian Renaissance gardens appeal to
our sense of order and proportion, even hundreds of years
after they were conceived and created. George Washington’s
gardens at Mount Vernon are a lovely statement of
simplicity and lack of pretense. Tulips in spring eternally
bring a sense of renewal and hope; in the soft, blue light
of Holland one can glimpse the elements that inspired great
Dutch and Flemish painters over two hundred years ago. And
mysterious, romantic Ninfa, south of Rome, a country garden
so artfully and carefully realized, that one would think
nature alone had created it.
In the early planning meetings, when gardens were being
selected with Penelope Hobhouse and Elvin McDonald, we
realized that it would be simply impossible to include all
of the world’s most beautiful gardens in one book or
television series. We were, at first, disappointed. But
then we were heartened – even in these threatened
environmental times, there are more beautiful places on
this earth than any one of us may hope to see.
Perhaps if we now take a
closer look at our gardens we will better understand how to
find a way to save our lovely earth. Have we not lost sight
of our only source of life? Or have we at last awakened to
the fragility of our beautiful planet?"
Audrey Hepburn and Crew, Filming at Giverny